60.5 lakh entities enrolled with GST network: Hasmukh Adhia

Ahead of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout on July 1, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Thursday reviewed its IT preparedness. He said 60.5 lakh entities have enrolled themselves with the GST network system.

Adhia said the government will open registration for the remaining taxpayers for 15 days from June 1.“As on April 30, 2017, when Phase-1 of enrolment was closed, 60.5 lakh taxpayers, out of 84 lakh had enrolled. The enrolment window will be re-opened for 15 days from June 1, 2017, to give another opportunity to taxpayers to enrol,” Adhia said in a statement.
“Out of 62,937 tax officials, 24,668 tax officials have been given hands-on training on the application software on live system, while the remaining officials will be trained by June 15, 2017. The training is being conducted on registration, returns and payment modules developed by GSTN,” he said.
GSTN is also conducting a pilot on GST system software till May 15, where 3,200 taxpayers drawn from each state, union territory and the centre will be participating. The pilot covers all the three modules, and is being run to give the taxpayers first-hand opportunity to work on the live system as the creation of return has become an interactive process.
The feedback from the pilot will be used to further improve the GST software, Adhia said. The government is holding the last GST Council meeting on May 18-19 to approve the fitment of rates for all goods and services to be taxed under GST. The meeting will be held in Srinagar.